6x14 Twice as Far

Everything just went so abrupt and rushed in this episode.

This episode shows up the determination of two most weak (combat abilities speaking) characters in Walking Dead, trying to prove themselves that they are able fighters like their comrades are. As the usual cliche, this went into disaster. I usually would "pardon" such attempt on cliche plot (weak people trying to prove themselves), but this episode is really difficult to find excuse for. Especially in the case with the person Daryl and Rosita is guarding: Denise. They know Denise is far from an able combatant--so why do they seem so reluctant to, in Rosita's words, "babysit" her? Not to mention how Denise is such an important asset to Alexandria for her actual skill: medic and surgery.

Another one, the very rushed and abrupt decision of Carol to leave Alexandria. We've seen her psychological dilemma of killing people in previous episode, questioning if her ruthlessness and pragmatism is right. We've seen the dilemma through her action, her emotion. It was one of a great episode. But in this episode? We see almost nothing of Carol and suddenly she left Alexandria! We only get to see her kissing Tobin for a few seconds, sitting on a bench lamenting of something, regretting something after Denise was killed, and then BAM! "Sorry guys I can't kill people anymore, I'm leaving Alexandria." This makes the usual calm, calculating Carol look like a teenager in emotional mood-swing. Even worse, we don't even get to see her mood-swing.

Credits where its due though: the part where Eugene bites the Survivor's dick is so unexpectedly hilarious. Eugene really got into the next level with that move. Still--that doesn't save this episode of its clumsiness.

After last week's great episode, this episode is really a disappointment.

How can an episode where so much happens be so dull? There's a firefight, a significant casualty, a big decision from a major character, and a reckoning between two people who've had unfinished business for a long time now. This is major stuff, so why did "Twice as Far" feel so unexciting?

In fairness, the episode seemed to be aiming for a sense of routineness to the proceedings. It opens with a repeated sequence involving supply inventory, guard shifts, and the daily rhythms of Alexandria to establish the semi-normalness and predictability that the town has settled into after the incident with The Saviors. The show thrived on this type of quiet after the storm vibe in "The Next World", but here it felt ponderous and contrived.

Perhaps it's because the episode's focus quickly shifted to a pair of expeditions, each of which features one babe in the woods with knowledge and skills that were helpful to the collective as a whole, but left them far less equipped to handle the combat realities of the zombie apocalypse. And each of these neophytes were contrasted with more capable, hardened warriors, who scoffed at their less-adept counterparts venturing beyond the walls and safety of Alexandria.

The Abraham-Eugene pairing was the weaker of these two storylines. There's genuine bad blood between the two of them that the show has only glancingly addressed. Though it seems like they made amends in the Season 5 finale, there's fruitful territory in the two of them rebuilding an uneasy trust after all they've been through together. And yet here, where the episode seems to be attempting to explore that territory, the character-based side of it is shallow, and the way their conflict is dramatized and resolved is unlikely and a little dumb.

Now Abraham and Eugene are not necessarily the type to sit around and talk about their feelings, but that's part of what makes their dialogue feel so strange and miscalibrated in this episode. Both Abraham and Eugene have a certain lyricism in their speech patterns, which, when sprinkled in with the more naturalistic style of most other folks on the show, can prove a nice contrast from the grand speeches the show's dialogue often defaults to (as seen in Denise's last hurrah here). But put them together, and in some ways it feels like you're watching a different show; the unnaturalness of their speech stands out and makes the intended emotional content behind their exchanges seem less real.

Eugene talks a great deal about changing, about trimming his distinctive mullet and reaching "level two" in terms of self-reliance and combat-readiness. The born warrior Abraham is naturally skeptical, even moreso when Eugene says that his services are no longer required. After a failed run-in with a walker that prompted this exchange, Abraham walks off, leaving Eugene to his own devices, something that could make sense if the episode did a better job conveying the lingering ill-feelings between the two of them as a motivation. Here, it seems like cruelty from Abraham, even if the big action scene suggests he was at least keeping tabs on Eugene as he made his way back to the compound.

Eugene is juxtaposed with Denise in the episode, and her story with Daryl and Rosita is a little more successful if only because, initially, the show is a little more subtle about showing what's going through Denise's mind through all of this. There's been several moments this season where Denise has shrunk from the moment, been unable to help the way she needed to, because she couldn't handle the horror around her. The idea of her trying to push past that, to leave the gates and go on a mission with two of the more capable fighters in the group in order to take her training wheels off works at a basic character motivation level.

It works in contrast to Daryl, who is in no mood to take advice or help along others after his various run-ins with The Saviors. As the episode established in "The Next World", he's shifted to where Rick was, mistrusting outsiders and leaning hard on his lone wolf tendencies, if not his own miniature "Ricktatorship." The scenes of him ignoring Denise's advice about the transmission and Rosita's advice about the path to the apothecary, suggest that he's colder, less apt to make allowances for the people who don't see things his way or serve his interests. But contrasted with his later attempt to boost Denise's spirits after she blanched at a horrific scene inside the pharmacy and his willingness to follow the train tracks with Rosita, it suggests there's a part of Daryl that cares about people, that makes him a reasonable person even when he doesn't want to be, that he can't shut off.

Those scenes are the most successful part of the episode. "Twice as Hard" conveys Denise's internal struggle inside the apothecary well, and while talking about one's childhood is frequently a clunky way to give shading to a character, Daryl's line it sounds like he and Denise "had the same brother" is both sweet and telling in its way. There's a common ground between Daryl and Denise, who otherwise seem like individuals who've led very different lives up this point, and the reason Denise wanted the security of Daryl on the trip seems more specific and interesting.

But then there's a contrived zombie-killing scene for her meant to be contrasted with the earlier one with Eugene. And then Denise gives one of the most painfully didactic speeches in a show not lacking in them about strength and bravery and how Daryl and Rosita have each and make things harder on themselves by being alone. And then she takes an arrow through the eye. And then there's a standoff with The Saviors. And then Eugene somehow earns Abrahams respect by biting the penis of the ringleader (who was the impetus for Daryl's change in perspective). And then Carol tells Daryl he was right, and she ends her five-minute romance with Tobin to wander off to god knows where. And I wonder how the hell we got from A-to-B here.

Because this is all pretty rough. Abraham letting Eugene struggle with a zombie is already stretching it, but at least Abraham is something of a hothead who's more apt to let Eugene see how difficult what Abraham's good at is by letting him twist in the wind for a while. But Daryl and Rosita just standing back and watching because Denise calls them off after she's locked in a tussle with a biter is one of those weak plot contrivances where the point the show's trying to make supersedes and plot or character logic.

And if we didn't get it, "Twice as Hard" then has Denise make the point, out loud, in no uncertain terms, in a way that betrays any subtlety or subtext in her journey in the episode. As in last week's episode, The Walking Dead has characters vocalizing the main theme of an episode when it had already done a decent, if not exactly spectacular job at conveying those messages in much more artful ways. As The Robot Devil of Futurama once said, you can't just have your character announce how they're feeling -- that makes me angry.

A mildly exciting firefight ensues. Daryl gets his bow back. Eugene becomes the groin-chomping champion of the world and inexplicably redeems himself in Abraham's eyes by distracting The Saviors long enough to help him get the drop on them. Daryl reverts to his, "I should have killed you" mentality, and he and Carol bury Denise.

In the episode's final sequence, it returns to the kind of routine it opened with, making the changes more noticeable, as Carol reads her farewell letter in voiceover. The last scene of this sequence, featuring Morgan (and a great-as-always performance from Lennie James) reacting to Carol's absence, is a strong one, heightened by the sound of her empty porch swing straining in the wind. The concept of his pacifist philosophy having a subtle but significant impact on Carol has been one of the best parts of this season. And yet, Carol's conclusion, that loving people in this world means having to kill for them, something she can't handle anymore, seems like an odd progression in her thinking on that front. I don't like to play "what if" games when it comes to alternate plot directions, but Carol up and leaving feels out of character whatever emotional turmoil she's going through that causes her to count rosaries and smoke. It just doesn't seem like the natural decision from the woman we've come to know.

So what are we left with? A closer friendship and mutual respect between Abraham and Eugene that doesn't feel especially well-motivated. Another character who's developed and deepened in an episode only to bite the dust immediately afterward. A belligerent Daryl who's likely to double down on his isolationism, and a Rosita who seems poised to take Denise's advice to heart and move forward with Spencer as a result of Denise's odd little fable. A Sasha-Abraham relationship that's been confusing from the start. And a Carol-less Alexandria, perhaps with Morgan there to pick up the pieces. Few of these are great destinations to begin with, but as the episode itself portended, the road to get there was more than a bit rocky, and that left "Twice as Hard" feeling like a disappointing episode that leaves the series in a worse place than it was when the episode began.